Monster Musume Quest!
by Xyrule
Summary: What happens when Granberia, along with many other monsters, get sent to Earth? The end of times? The death of all purity? Nope, you get another cultural exchange program! Based on Monster Musume. This will NOT have lemons. I know, sacrilege. ABANDONED
1. Nothing Good Happens Past 2 AM

Andrew groaned, holding his hands to the side of his head in frustration at the brightly lit desktop in front of him.

"This is so stupid, why am I even bothering with this?!" he practically shouted, glaring angrily at the screen as if it was the essay's fault he was mad.

Two thousand words on proper procedure for an emergency concussion situation. Two. Thousand. Words.

Andrew was awful with essays, and the topic could be explained in five sentences, how in the world was he supposed to extend it to two thousand words?! What was the professor thinking?!

He pushed his desk, sending his chair rolling on its wheels over the carpeted floor. "Screw this, I'm getting food." he said to himself.

He didn't really know why he shouted all the time. No one lived with him, and no one would care about his plight if they did. Maybe he was just a loud person.

It didn't really matter, right now he wasn't thinking about his volume. He only cared about finding that cup ramen he'd left somewhere in his pantry.

As the ramen cooked in his microwave, he sat on the granite countertop of his kitchen, his arms crossed and eyes closed as he went deep in thought.

He needed to finish the assignment. It was due in three days and he hadn't even started. Being awake at 2 am the night before Monday was a nightmare, but he had to do it. He didn't have enough time to sit around or else he'd fail the assignment.

He heard a crash through the wall of the kitchen, and sighed, shaking his head at the sound, not bothering to worry about it. It was probably Caitlyn accidentally smashing through her wall again. That girl was nuts when she was fired up, and mixed martial arts combined with sheetrock doesn't end well.

He briefly wondered how much it cost her per year to replace the wall. This was the fourth time this month she'd done that. Oh, well, at least it wasn't his body she was smashing this time.

The beeping of the microwave brought him out of his thoughts, and as he opened the cup and stuck a fork in to grab the noodles inside, he sighed.

He didn't amount to much ,when he thought about it. Caitlyn was clumsy, but she had a whole career in martial arts to go for. Christopher in the apartment above his was a renowned author of a very popular book series. Across the hall was master programmer in the making Cameron Fernandez.

Meanwhile there was him. Procrastinator extraordinaire. He wanted to become a nurse, but at the rate he was going he doubted he'd get very far with that goal.

He did try his best, but he never could quite find the motivation to do much. He scraped by with classes, but that was about it.

He knew he was a boring person, but who cares? He wasn't bothering anyone with his lifestyle, and he had no one to impress.

Single, broke, and boring. The typical college student.

He sighed to himself, setting down his half-eaten cup ramen. "I'm taking a walk." he said to himself, grabbing his keys from his desk next to his keyboard and heading out the door without looking back.

Maybe being outside would help him clear his head. It couldn't hurt at least.

The South Carolina air was cool despite it being early autumn, and it was pleasant on his skin since he'd opted not to bring a sweater. Edgerton was nice this time of year, being up in the Appalachian Mountains, and he enjoyed walking in the night breeze.

Traffic was low in his neighborhood, so there was little sound other than of people in the apartment complex he lived in and the rustling of trees around him. It was peaceful. At 2 am you'd never guess this was a highly populated area.

He didn't even bother looking both ways as he jaywalked across a street towards a nearby part, the looming figure of Hendrik's Peak, a local nickname for the nearby Mount Hennessey, hanging like a backdrop over the horizon. The mountain sheltered the city from excessive rain, and also provided the cool breeze he was enjoying right now.

He sat down at a bench in the park, sighing to himself as he leaned back in the seat, letting his arms hang over the backrest as he stared up into the sky.

There weren't many stars, being in a city that was busy even at night in the downtown area, but he could still see the three stars in a line that marked Orion, and the bright light of Jupiter was clearly visible nearby.

He enjoyed stargazing, but it was hard to do in a city where the sky was clouded by light pollution. It was pretty boring only being about to point out Orion and the Big Dipper after all.

He heard a groan, and sighed, looking back behind him at the source of the groan. Some homeless person probably.

He blinked in surprise as he saw someone lying on the ground, half-covered by the bushes behind the bench.

At first glance, he assumed he was right in that it was some homeless person, before looking a little more carefully told him that this person, whoever they were, seemed to be wearing an oddly well-designed suit of some kind that make them look like some sort of dragon person...Cosplay, probably.

Okay, so a drunk cosplayer. So? Even that wasn't exactly unheard of here. It was rare in this particular park, but it happened before in other places around the city.

Still, something about the cosplayer bothered him, enough that he didn't turn around. Rather, he continued staring at them, before they rolled over, giving him a better view as they rolled out of the bushes.

A girl, and from a red stain on the side of her head, she was injured. Realizing that, he jumped up out of his seat, standing by the bench and staring at her.

She must have somehow hit her head on the fence behind the bushes, and now, she was clearly unconscious...and she likely had a concussion.

Great. It seems the subject of his essay had some practical application almost as soon as he decided to take a break. Using what he knew about medical aid from school, he ran to her side, kneeling on a knee to set one hand under her shoulders and the other on her stomach to lift her upper body up gently, careful to avoid accidentally touching her wound to the branches of the bush.

She went up limply, and was surprisingly heavy for her moderately small frame. As he lifted her arm around his shoulders to pull her up, he grunted at the weight, holding onto the bench with his free hand to aid him in lifting her.

The small spines attached to her elbows dug into his ribs as he stepped forward, getting used to her weight as he helped her walk...well, more like dragged her. She was still unconscious, but she wasn't very badly injured, so he opted not to call 911. There was no need, her injuries were within his understanding, luckily.

It took him half an hour to slowly walk her back to his apartment complex, during which he passed the same spot he usually jaywalked and yet again had no reason to look down the road, and by the time he made it to his door, he was exhausted.

He let her slide off his shoulder to rest on the wall while he got his keys out to unlock the house, glancing at her as he did so. "You really are heavy, you know that?" he asked.


	2. Granberia

He sighed, sitting on an old wooden chair he'd gotten from the corner of his room, arms crossed as he stared at the unconscious cosplayer on his couch.

Now that the blood was cleared from her head, she looked almost like she was sleeping, but he knew she wasn't. He had to inspect the damage, but he couldn't figure out how to remove her suit to do so. He'd tried to remove her headpiece, but he'd only been able to pull off the dented metal plate that served as a decorative helmet but served no real purpose.

"What the heck did you seal that crap with?!" he asked the unmoving body. He assumed her hair was real despite the odd brick color, but he couldn't figure out how the heck the weird fin-ears and the crest on the back of her head were attached. Had this girl dipped her whole head in gorilla glue or something? Was she not planning on taking this crap off after whatever party she'd been to in this getup?

He couldn't even tell what she was supposed to be. A fish was his first thought, but looking closer, she seemed to be some sort of reptile. A dragon, maybe? He'd never heard of a dragon with fins though.

He stood up and walked over to his kitchen, glancing at the broken helmet thing that he'd simply tossed on the floor, unsure what to do with the thing. It was a piece of junk now, but maybe she would want to fix it when she woke.

Well, if he couldn't get the headpiece off, he'd have to do what he could with it still on. Ignoring his now-cold cup ramen, he went to a lockbox sitting on the counter next to his fridge, shifting the keys to its combination and opening it to reveal a pile of moderately organized medical supplies.

Taking out a bottle of alcohol and a couple pieces of gauze, he walked over to the girl, leaving the lockbox open because hey, who would bother robbing a guy of his medicine while he was still inside?

He turned the girl's head so the wounded side was facing up, her facing pointing to him as he leaned over her to work.

It was simple enough locating where the wound was, finding a small scrape along her temple. It always did surprise him how such a tiny injury could cause so much damage.

He opened the bottle and dipped it down over one of the gauze strips, soaking the fabric in the chemical, before lightly dabbing it against the wound.

The girl jolted at the touch, and had she not been unconscious she might have pushed him away, but as she was, all she did was push an arm against his stomach.

He smiled at the contact. _That really is a realistic suit…_ he thought as he worked, clearing the wound to stop infection. It was slow, but worth it...even with the girl subconsciously punching his gut the entire time he was cleaning it.

After he finished, fifteen minutes and the rest of his ramen later, he wrapped her head with the second piece of gauze, not even bothering to attempt to remove the headpiece anymore. She could take it off when she woke and he's just reapply the gauze then, it was easier than trying to remove the thing if it might hurt her doing so.

Now that he was done, he set the bottle of alcohol back into the lockbox, taking out a Tylenol bottle and opening it, dropping a pill into his hand and setting it on the counter, before repacking the bottle and closing the box. He'd give the pill to her when she woke up, but for now, he walked back over to his living room to inspect his handiwork.

The girl was resting now, scratching at the gauze in her sleep, the odd claws picking at the fabric, though they didn't do much to rearrange it. Good, he didn't want her to undo the binding in her sleep.

He sat down at the wooden chair, crossing his arms again as he looked at her. He was done until she woke up, so now…

~~~Later~~~

Andrew woke up to the feeling of carpet in his face. He groaned, blinking away sleep as he lifted his head.

He must have fallen asleep in his chair and fallen over. He could hear his alarm clock beeping loudly from his room, and he picked himself up off the ground to go turn off the annoying sound.

"Is it 6 already…?" he asked groggily. "I did NOT get enough sleep…"

"And I thank you for that sacrifice." came a voice from behind him, and he froze, his foot already past the threshold to his room.

He turned his head slowly to look behind him, and was surprised to find the girl from the night before sitting up on the couch, seemingly totally fine despite her injury. The gauze still held firm on her head, she seemed to know not to mess with it. Good, at least her brain hadn't been scrambled by the concussion.

"I see you're awake, miss…"

"Just call me Granberia. And what is your name?" the girl said, crossing her arms, a slightly strange sight considering how long her fingers were, but that wasn't exactly the only odd thing about her, with the whole costume she wore.

"Andrew...but just call me Drew." he replied, and she nodded.

"Alright, Andrew…" she said, ignoring the second part of his reply and looking around his apartment. "This is quite a nice home you have here. I'm not one for interior design, but it is spacious."

Andrew blinked, looking around. Was she talking about his tiny apartment? Seriously, this place was too small for the rent he paid for it. "Er...right…" he said, deciding not to question it. "That's an interesting name though, are you Swedish? Danish?"

Granberia blinked. "Sentoran." she replied. "What the heck would Swedish and Danish be from?"

The expression in her abnormally large yellow eyes was one of pure confusion, so much that Andrew almost felt bad for asking.

"Uhh...Well, I don't know where Sentora is, but Sweden and Denmark are in Europe." he replied. "I mean, I guess they're strange names, maybe your country calls them something different…"

"Where is Europe?" she asked, still confused, before looking around again. "And where are we now, for you not to recognize Sentora? Are you Ilish? You couldn't be Hellgondan…"

He blinked. "I understood neither of those terms." he answered. "This is South Carolina."

Granberia nodded, tapping her chin with one of her weirdly long fingers. "I see...where is South Carolina?" she asked, and he sighed, holding a hand to his forehead.

"This is going nowhere…" he said. "Look, let me pull up a map for you." he replied, heading over to his computer, which sat at the wall across from the couch, where a TV would normally go. He never saw a need to get a TV, so that's where it was and that's where it would stay. It took only a quick Google search, during which he was acutely aware of the cosplayer boring a hole in his back with her stare, for him to pull up a map of the USA. "Okay, come over here."

The girl hesitated, before standing, walking over to him and staring at the computer. "...What is this?" she asked.


	3. Dented Armor (And Pride)

He looked at her, confused by the question. Had she not seen a map before? "It's a map of the USA. It's the country we're in...you must have hit your head pretty hard not to remember coming here. Was there some sort of convention here recently? That getup looks like some anime character or something."

Granberia blinked. "Convention? Anime?" She looked down at herself, holding her arms out to look at her hands. "This is how I always dress, what is the problem?"

Andrew stared at her, clicking the mouse accidentally as he shifted to look at her, though the cursor had not been on any sort of button, so it clicked uselessly on the black background around the map he'd pulled up on Google Images.

"You always dress like some sort of dragon warrior thing? In what society is that considered normal?" Had he saved a freak? Still, he didn't mind helping her...but now he kind of wanted her out of his apartment, though he didn't say it. Might as well let her explain herself.

She reacted as if she'd been punched, and her expression darkened, her voice raising in annoyance. "What do you mean? Sure it doesn't cover much, but it's all I need! I don't care how society sees my choice of dress!"

He raised an eyebrow at her response. "What are you talking about? That suit covers most of your body, and that plastic junk is close to violating public indecency laws."

He flinched involuntarily at the glare she was giving him. It made her seem threatening...if she wasn't half a foot shorter than him. It wasn't cute, Andrew wasn't exactly attracted to people who covered most of their bodies in makeup, but it wasn't exactly terrifying either.

"Did you just call my Ant-made armor 'plastic junk'?!" she practically shouted, and he stared at her, unsure why she was so angry. "This armor is capable of protecting against any type of blade, and it can remain uncrushed even under Kraken-level pressure. It is NOT 'plastic junk'!"

Andrew hummed in response. "Right, right." he replied, not paying much attention to whatever she was talking about. "Then that fencepost must be stronger than a Kraken, because that headpiece didn't protect your head at all." He pointed at the circle of metal that he'd managed to remove from her head, which still lay on the floor, dented to the point that it looked almost flattened on one side.

Her eyes widened, and she grabbed the headpiece, staring at it as she held it in one large hand, running a finger of her free hand along the dents. "...What did you do to it?" she asked quietly, and he shrugged.

"I found you like that, I didn't do anything but get it off your head...though I couldn't get the rest of the costume off. Hopefully you only have a minor injury, because I couldn't figure out how to get the scales off."

Granberia stared at him, holding the crown-like headpiece in her hands. "...You're an idiot, aren't you?"

Andrew blinked. "What? Is it not standard procedure to remove a costume that's in the way of a wound?"

"It's not a costume! Why would you think my skin is a costume?!" she shouted, and he stared for several seconds, before laughing.

"Okay, now I know you're making stuff up. Or are you one of those weird otherkin people you see online? Didn't know any were legit."

"What in the world is an other-...Never mind. Are you really not aware of who I am? I am Granberia of the Heavenly Knights, a dragon girl."

Andrew turned back to his computer, closing out the tab with the US map on it and opening the tab with his unwritten essay. "Right, right, whatever. I'd suggest getting some sleep, you're clearly delusional. Just so you're aware, dragons don't exist."

He could feel the force of her glare on his back again. "What kind of person doesn't know about dragons? My species in particular may not be well-known, but others are certainly famous monsters. You...do know about monsters, right?" Her annoyed tone seemed to taper off as she spoke, replaced with growing doubt as she saw him changing tabs. "...I need to sit down."

He glanced at her as she walked over to his couch, sitting heavily on it and rubbing her forehead with one hand, her headpiece loosely hanging off the other hand. "My head hurts." she complained. "This is all too weird...Most people would be terrified if I even so much as showed up, much less yelled at them like I just did to you...and yet you, some weak human who thought my scales were fake, didn't even recognize me...And I do not recognize that device you are using."

Andrew looked at her, resting his elbow on the back of his computer seat so he could see her better. When he spoke, it was in a softer tone as he ignored the insult masked in her words. "Hey...you hit your head pretty hard. What do you remember doing before that? Anything will help. I'm a medical student, and though I'm not exactly the best, I know how to help someone who's injured."

"I am not injured!" Granberia protested. "I understand that you were trying to help, and while I thank you for your attempt, a simple concussion is not a problem to me. Monsters are much more resilient than humans, and I am above many monsters."

"...Do you seriously believe you're a 'monster'? Maybe you need therapy too…" He sighed. "Look, I'll Google 'monster' and prove it to you."

"...Google?" So many terms she didn't seem to know. Where was this girl from? How had she gotten here?

As he opened his browser again to google the term, he saw the girl standing from his peripheral vision as he searched, simply, the term 'monster'.


	4. The Day the Monsters Came

He typed out the search phrase and waited as Google loaded the page, turning to face her. "See? Told you." he said, without even looking, but blinked as he saw Granberia seem to freeze in place, her eyes wide as she stared at the screen.

"...Okay, I believe you, Andrew. But...you are also wrong." she said quietly.

"Huh?" he asked, turning to face the computer, and his eyes widened as he saw the first few results. "What…"

Ten dead in Venice after a flood. Rape and murder rates quadruple in the United States as unknown creatures appear in major cities. Iraq in a state of chaos after President Fuad Masum was found mutilated in his home. Reports of a 'Chupacabra' attacking people in Mexico City.

"What is happening…" he said to himself as he scrolled down the tab. Every search result on the first and second pages was related to some news article, all dated between the night before and now, and the more he saw, the worse they got.

"It appears I wasn't the only one." Granberia said. "This world...I don't believe it is mine." she added as he turned to look at her, his eyes still wide in shock.

"So...you're…" he said, pointing at her nervously, and she smirked, crossing her arms and nodding.

"You finally get it. Yes, I am a dragon, as I have been telling you. I am not wearing any sort of costume, as you seemed to think I was. These scales are my armor."

He was silent as he tried to process the information, idly scrolling up and down the page, now hardly reading the article titles.

"...I would say you're still lying, but...it would be understandable if it was just one news source saying all these, but it's multiple, on opposite sides of the political spectrum. For CNN and Breitbart to agree on something for once…" He covered his face with his hands, talking through his palms. "I have no idea what to think."

"I don't know why or how we were taken from our world, but it seems your world is feeling the effects." She shook her head, sighing. "Most monsters in the world we come from are...not favorable to humans. They're driven by reproductive instinct and hunger, and few species have the mental capacity to negotiate treatment between them and humans. It's...not an enjoyable world, for either side."

He looked at her, his eyes still wide in shock. "So are you going to try to rape or kill me or both?" he asked.

Granberia flinched at the wording, and her hand clenched in a fist as if she was going to attack for him daring to insult her, but quickly shifted back to her normal stoic expression, her fist loosening again. "I am not like most monsters. I have no particular interest in sexual endeavors, I live by the sword and little else."

Andrew tilted his head. "You weren't carrying a sword when I found you, and I didn't see anything like that nearby." he pointed out, and her reaction was immediate as her mouth opened in surprise, and she looked down at herself, as if she'd find a sword magically appearing next to her, but, because that's impossible, she naturally found no such weapon nearby, and a look around the room told her nothing.

She didn't even bother walking to the couch this time, sitting down heavily directly on the carpet, a hand on the side of her head, the other hanging between her legs, which now were sprawled in front of her. "I don't have it...What happened to it…?" she said quietly, as Andrew looked down at her from his seat.

"Wouldn't matter anyway, you're not allowed to have real swords outside of dojos or decorations." he replied. "Guns are fine, though...But your hands aren't very well-shaped for one." At her confused expression, he sighed. "...You have no idea what a gun is, do you?"

"I do not...but I assume it is a weapon of some fashion?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah, it's basically a projectile type of thing, I'm not going to bother explaining it. You'll be lucky if you never need to know what a gun does."

"And this gun...Do you wield one?" she asked, and he laughed, waving a hand.

"Unless you're in the military or like hunting, most people don't regularly wield guns. But yes, I do own one. A Glock 26, nice model. Though I don't think you could legally get one since you're not a citizen."

He shook his head. "Why are we talking about guns? There is literally a monster epidemic going on, and we're talking about concealed carry laws." He sighed, looking at the screen, where the Google search was still up. "...I guess it's more relevant now than ever, though...How many of these monsters are there?"

"They outnumbered humans in my world five to one, but...hopefully for your kind there are not so many." She closed her eyes, her body shifting to a meditative position on the ground, and Andrew raised an eye at her positioning.

He wondered why he wasn't freaking out more. Here was quite literally a dragon girl, sitting on his floor, and he didn't so much as have an elevated heart rate. Even after seeing all those news articles on monsters attacking people, he still couldn't see her as anything but someone he'd saved...even if she apparently hadn't really needed his help.

Maybe that was just how far his laziness went. He was so indecisive that even now, when something major and unusual had happened, he still was talking as easily as he did when he talked to Caitlyn and Christopher.

Heck, when he _should_ be grabbing his gun, he was instead telling her its make and model. What was wrong with him?

He was broken from his thoughts as Granberia's eyes snapped open, and she sighed, crossing her arms again, shaking her head in disappointment.

"Nothing. Tamamo won't reply, and even Alma Elma isn't making her usual bad jokes. I can't get a handle on any of them...It seems I was the only Heavenly Knight to be sent here. This is...quite strange. I can recognize several of the monsters mentioned in those 'news articles' just from the titles, even if they don't know, and few of them have any correlation to me or my species. Were the species sent here totally random?"

She huffed in frustration and stood up. "This is annoying. Cut off from the others, no weapon, and my Ant Girl armor is too brittle to be effective." She lifted one of the loose plates making up the shoulder pads of the armor, and with no more effort than pressing her fingers together, the plate warped to almost inversion, turned up as she glared at the metal.

"I am unsure what 'plastic' is, but if it really is as weak as you made it seem to be, then perhaps my armor can only be considered akin to it now. I will be needing a new outfit now, it seems."

Without warning, she started untying the straps wrapping over her shoulders and keeping her chestplate on, leading Andrew to jump back, his chair rocking dangerously on two wheels as he tried to cover his eyes.

"Wh-What are you doing?!" he asked, and she stared at him oddly.

"Removing my armor, obviously. Do you have a girlfriend or something whose clothing I can borrow?"

"No! And don't strip in front of me, what is wrong with you?!" he said, and she blinked, looking down at herself, her chestplate hanging down over her torso plating, leaving her chest exposed.

"...Do humans have a problem with nudity? That's odd, it's natural to wear nothing, is it not?" She seemed genuinely confused by the concept, while Andrew just covered his face, though his fingers were slightly spread as he mentally grappled between looking and not looking.

"It isn't normal to just start stripping in front of strangers! We don't do that!"

"But you're not a stranger." she countered, moving to undo the straps attaching her torso plates. "So by your laws, it's fine."

"It isn't illegal, it's just weird. Please don't do it in front of me, I'm just an awkward college student!" He kicked the floor, causing the seat of his chair to spin to face away from her.

Granberia blinked as he turned away, before laughing, realizing how he'd reacted. "Oh, I see...So me being a monster doesn't change how you view my body, does it? Interesting, you must be a pervert, how disgusting."

"Says the half-naked girl standing in my living room!" he retorted. "Put the armor back on, I'll find you something to wear later!"

She laughed again at the violent reaction, before conceding and pulling the chestplate back up, reaching behind her head to grab one of the straps. "You're too easy to mess with, I can see why Alma Elma and Tamamo enjoy humans. Perhaps this experience will force me to interact with them more."

He sighed, glancing behind the seat, and when he knew that she was putting back on the armor, he turned back around to face her. "If your society hasn't even heard of guns yet, I would suggest staying inside for a while. I don't know if your world has a high population density, but at least in this neighborhood, the apartment complexes are several stories tall. Wouldn't want you to get a heart attack or something from the size of everything."

"...You've made me curious now." she said, and he waved to a door shedding light through closed blinds onto the living room.

"Fine, that goes out to the balcony. Don't blame me if it freaks you out though." Truth be told, he just wanted to see her reaction.

She marched to the door, pulling it open and closing it behind her, a loud gasp all he could hear before the door closed, blocking out whatever sound she made after.


	5. Xenophobia

After several moments, during which Andrew decided to get back to typing his blank essay, he heard the door open again. Without even looking at the dragon girl, he nodded.

"Well?" he asked, and was met with silence, and he blinked, turning his head to face her. "...Are you alright?" he asked.

Granberia was slumped where she stood, her hands balled in loose fists, her brick-red bangs framing her face, shrouded in shadow. Even in the shadow, he could see that her eyes were as wide as saucers, and her mouth was hanging slightly open. She looked paralyzed on the spot for several seconds, before her head slowly moved to look up at him.

"Am I allowed in that room?" she suddenly asked, pointing to an open door nearby, and he blinked.

"Uhh...that's my bedroom, but I guess you can...why?" He stood up and walked to her, unsure how to respond to her odd reaction. "Hey, are you okay…?"

She didn't respond, slowly turning in place and walking to the bedroom, followed closely by the student, who stared worriedly at her back as she passed the door and entered the room.

He mentally cursed himself for not cleaning up earlier, but how could he have expected company? He was a college student living alone, he had no reason to clean up his messy system.

One wall was lined with shelves, stacked high with DVDs and various other electronics, and a smaller shelf hanging on the wall above his bed contained his small but varied collection of figurines from various series, all of which were gifts over the years, mostly from his parents. He'd tried to tell them that he was only a casual anime watcher, but they seemed to think he was more of an intensive viewer...though now, his real-life situation felt oddly reminiscent of one of the weird ecchi ones, maybe he'd watch more for research...No, that made no sense.

His bed was fairly large for one person, a queen-size that covered most of the remaining space, though it left a small aisle to an empty corner behind the shelves that he hadn't filled yet.

Oddly, Granberia walked right to the corner, sitting down and wrapping her arms around her legs, resting her forehead on her knees. The sight of the dragon would have been funny if it wasn't kind of depressing, especially considering how five minutes before she'd been happily stripping.

What exactly had she seen outside to shake her so much? He still knew almost nothing about her, but this was just too uncharacteristic. He walked over to her, sitting on the bed facing across from her, looking at her with concern.

"Hey...you okay?" he asked., and she sat still for several seconds before lifting her head, looking at him with dull eyes.

"This world is dangerous for me." she said simply, looking down at her knees again. "I have no weapon but my own claws, no armor but my own skin, and I can't feel my connection to my magic. I'm completely cut off here…" She looked at him again, and he was surprised by how vulnerable she looked. "I got startled by a freaking bird chirping, what is happening to me?!" He thought her eyes seemed wetter than usual, but it was hard to tell in the low light of the room. "It was a loud bird though, and I could barely see it…"

A loud bird? What was she talking about? An airplane, maybe? He couldn't fathom what was going on, but whatever she'd seen, it had shaken her.

He held a hand out, but hesitated, pulling it back as he stared at her. Sure she was huddled in a corner and about to cry, but she could probably snap him like a twig if he made the wrong move...and he had no idea how much of this was real and how much was an act. She had not reacted this violently to his computer or the modernity of his room, so he doubted a plane would do this.

He didn't really care if it was an act or not though. It was his human nature to help someone in need, and so he made the decision to hold his hand out, setting it on her head as he smiled softly.

"I don't know why you're here or how long you'll be staying, but don't worry." he told her, and she looked at him again, an expression of wonder on her face. "I'll handle things. You're an unknown entity and from the looks of the news, you'll need to stay hidden, but...I'll do what I can to accommodate you. Just sit there for as long as you-" His eye twitched as he heard a loud bang emanating from the kitchen, and the dragon jumped under his hand as he glared out the door to his room.

"Freaking Caitlyn probably kicked another hole in her wall. You'd think by now she'd learn to get a punching bag, the landlord's got to be on her back 24/7 about it by now." He looked back at her. "Uhh...where was I?" He blinked as he saw her face.

She'd gone a complete 180 from before, her face split in a grin, and her eyes hardened like they'd been when she first woke up. He sighed, shaking his head and taking his hand off her hair, retracting it to his lap.

"So I'm guessing it was just an act?" he asked, and she nodded. He sighed again and held a hand to the back of his head in embarrassment. "It was pretty convincing."

"I'm a good actor when I want to be." she replied, planting her hands on her knees and groaning as she stood up, stepping out of the corner, her grin not fading as she looked at him. "Some speech though...too bad it got cut off."

He laughed hesitantly. "Pretty embarrassing, huh?" he asked, and her grin softened to a regular smile as she shook her head.

"I don't understand much about that type of emotion, but the sentiment was sweet." she replied. "Keep it up and I might consider you worth my attention." She laughed, shaking her head again. "Nah, you're about 7 years of heavy sword training away from that happening." She walked out of the room, and he sighed, standing up off the bed to follow her.

She was standing in front of his computer, reading the half a paragraph he'd written. "I don't know what this device is, but I can tell it's some kind of information-sharing technology. It couldn't be magic, or else I would have proper access to mine." She looked at him. "Why are you writing about concussions? Are you a medical expert?"

He sighed, sitting down at the wheeled chair and scooting into the desk, looking over the few sentences he'd managed. "I'm in school to be a nurse, this is an assignment, and it's kind of due in two days...I was thinking of maybe adding how I helped you, since it's the same concept...Even though you apparently didn't need help." He laughed. "I know, a male nurse, sounds weird, but it's what I think I want to do."

She shook her head, crossing her arms as she stared at him with her oddly large yellow eyes. "I think it's an admirable profession. In a war, those who heal the injured can sway the tide of battle even more than those wielding the swords. It doesn't affect me so much as it does weaker monsters and humans, but I can see the importance."

An odd way to put it, but then again, he knew nothing about her world. Was it in a war right now? How was it affected by monsters suddenly vanishing?

"What's your world like?" he asked, and she hummed, her smile widening.

"Want to know? I'll tell you...but you have to tell me about yours in exchange."

He smiled. "That sounds like a fair deal."


	6. Alice in Wonderland

"I did not see much of your town from that place, so may I explore outside?" the dragon asked, and Andrew shook his head, opening a new tab on his browser.

"I don't know if news has spread or not, but you look weird even without all the monster attacks." he replied. "It's kind of a roundabout way of doing it, but I'll show you a map on Google Earth of the city."

He hadn't even used the program in a long time, but it was still downloaded to his computer, so it didn't take long to open it, chuckling to himself as he went to the first place he had saved...his own address. After all, was there anyone who didn't look for their own house the first time they open it?

He glanced at Granberia, who watched the screen with rapt attention as it went through the animation, spinning as it zoomed into the Eastern Seaboard.

"Your world is very large." she said. "To have this many continents...My world has very few."

"Well, it could just be that your world doesn't have the tech to explore and map it well. I'd like to see a map of it some time though." he replied. He doubted he could simply google 'Sentora' and have anything come up. He turned to the screen, which now showed a section of his neighborhood. "Here's the apartment complex. It's called Hearthstone Cove, and it's within the Echo Gardens neighborhood." He scrolled his mouse to zoom out. "This is the city. It isn't really very big, and it's pretty recent. The whole place is mostly populated by Edgerton University students, like me."

"A university...And where is it on this map?" she asked, and Andrew looked over it, before sighing.

"Looks like it hasn't been updated in a while…" he said, pointing at an area near his neighborhood. "This section of the forest got cleared out about a decade ago and the university was built in its place."

The dragon hummed to herself. "What is a 'university'?" she asked. "I have heard the word before, but I was never particularly interested in whatever it entailed."

He nodded. "It's basically a school for adults." he replied. "You can get a better job if you go there than if you just stop at high school, which ends when you turn 18."

The woman crossed her arms and nodded. "So in your world, you have special buildings for education...Interesting." she said, after thinking for a few seconds. "And is there a variety of jobs to study for?"

He nodded. "Like I'm studying to be a nurse, Caitlyn's going for a Phys Ed degree with specialty in martial arts, Christopher's going into creative writing, and Cameron's big into computer science. There's a pretty wide range to choose from, those are only a few things."

"So, if I were to be able to hide my identity, would I be able to go to university?" she asked, and he laughed.

"Don't know what you'd study, but no, you couldn't. You need to go through a registration process and to finish that you need a high school transcript."

"...Why is it so complicated? Why not accept anyone?" she asked, and he looked at her, sighing and shaking his head.

"How many valence electrons would an oxygen atom require to be stable, assuming that it takes a covalent bond?" he asked, and she blinked, going quiet as she processed the question.

"..." Her confused expression was quite funny, and he had to hold back a laugh. "...What is an electron?"

He nodded. "Exactly. If you don't even know that, how can you expect to understand calculus or history...God, you'd have so much to learn with history, you wouldn't even know our countries currently, much less relations in the past."

"...I will learn how to use that 'Google' thing you were using earlier. It seems to be a library of information, is it not?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Sure, but let me create a new login for you...You're not very experienced with tech, I don't want you ruining my stuff somehow."

He laughed at the glare she gave him. "Very well. And what shall I do about clothing, since I am apparently not allowed to go nude?"

He sighed, shaking his head. "I'll go get something, or maybe ask Caitlyn…" He blinked, before groaning, holding his hand to his forehead. "Oh, sweet Jesus, how am I going to hide you from her? Who knows when she'll show up again…"

"Is Caitlyn the one who continuously damages the wall?" the dragon asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah, she's a martial artist, and yet still hasn't gathered that she needs to use a practice dummy or punching bag instead of using her wall. She's smashed it so many times now that I'm surprised she hasn't been kicked out."

"Martial arts…" She grinned. "I'd like to meet her, I hope to one day speak with her. I doubt I can stay hidden forever when she lives so close by."

"Right, the swordsman and the kickboxer...What a nightmare that meeting would be." he said, sighing. "I don't even know much about her despite her living next to me, we don't talk much except when she comes over."

The warrior blinked in surprise. "You should learn to know your neighbors, even I am not so anti-social that I am against getting to know new people. I simply prefer those who are strong."

The boy laughed. "Guess you must be pretty disappointed that it was me and not her who found you, then. I'm about as weak as they come, both physically and spiritually."

He looked at her, expecting some word of agreement, or an insult, but he was surprised to find her frowning.

"You are quite self-degrading, aren't you?" she asked. "I am not against weak people, but I am easily annoyed by those who constantly put themselves down. You are weak and acknowledge it, true, but you are giving yourself no room to grow. People like that are the ones I loathe the most."

"..." The man looked away from her. "You didn't need to be so rude about it. I know it's a problem, but I don't know how to fix myself…"

"Then don't do it yourself." she said, and he looked at her. She crossed her arms and nodded, a small smile playing across her face. "Let me help. I'll whip you into shape, and make you someone worth looking at. It's at least something I can do to entertain myself while I'm stuck in this Ilias-forsaken world."

His eyes widened and his mouth opened in surprise. "...You know, I'm starting to think you're not so tsun as I thought you were."

She tilted her head at the phrase. "'Tsun'?" she asked, and he laughed, waving his hand.

"Don't worry about it...Fine, I'll accept the help...Thank you, Granberia."


	7. Kickboxer vs Door

The man grinned as he accepted the monster's proposition, nodding as he turned to his computer. "Now then, I'd better set you up here and I'll just let you do whatever you want on Google." he said, opening the administrator's panel on the device and going through the process of creating a new user. "Want a password, or no?" he asked.

At Granberia's stare, he sighed and nodded. "Right, right, I won't bother then." he said, and after logging off to go back to the users window, he pushed his chair back and stood up, stretching his legs as he stepped aside to let her sit down. "Whenever you want to get on, just click here where it says 'Granberia' and it'll open your account. Want me to explain how to use the browser and URLs?"

As she sat, she set her hand on the mouse to navigate to the login, blinking as the display opened. "I observed you enough to have a basic understanding." she replied. "If I need help, I will ask."

She turned away from him, her eyes facing the computer screen as she opened the browser, typing slowly as she wasn't used to the keyboard, though she seemed to have little problem manipulating the keys despite her long fingernails...Were they talons, or just nails? He couldn't really tell because they were almost the same color as her fingers.

He sighed, walking to his kitchen, which was attached to the living room by a wide, doorless opening, and sat on the island to watch her, crossing his arms as he thought things over.

Now that he had the time to think, he realized how bizarre this situation was. Sitting at his computer, browsing the internet, was a legitimate dragon girl, something you'd normally only see in anime. This girl was clearly some sort of warrior, but now she was just a monster, one of many who had apparently ended up here on Earth from whatever world she'd spawned in. He didn't think she was a threat despite their no doubt enormous difference in strength, but he had no idea if she counted as a friend either. What was her motivation? Did she really want to help him become more motivated? How did she plan to do that exactly?

He sighed as he was broken from his thoughts by another loud thud coming from the wall behind him. Seems that Caitlyn was very active today-

His eyes widened as he heard a second thud, though this time, it wasn't at the wall...Instead, it was at his front door, and seconds later, the door flew open, revealing what could only be Caitlyn.

She was short, five feet tall at the most, and her red hair was cut short, hanging loosely at a length barely reaching her chin to keep out of the way of the robe that was her dojo's uniform. Her leg was raised, the foot facing parallel to where the door had been, making it obvious what had happened.

True to her fame, she'd hit the door with her powerful kick, and Andrew sighed, hoping that she hadn't broken the knob again, before blinking, jumping up as he realized that Granberia was still in full view, though she was currently hidden by a wall.

"C-Caitlyn!" he shouted, practically running to her, using his body as extra protection between her and Granberia, who stared curiously at his back...an expression he could feel even though he wasn't facing her. "How many times have I told you to knock instead of breaking and entering?!"

Caitlyn grinned, revealing braces spread across her teeth, a hole where one had been knocked out years before breaking the metal's path before it continued on to the next tooth, and her foot lowered to plant flat on the ground. "It's been a while, and I just had to visit after I saw something I thought you'd like to see!"

 _Act natural and she would probably leave, that's the best option._ Andrew thought, sighing. _Please don't try to come in…_ "I keep telling you, I don't care about your tournaments. Go away, I'm busy working on my essay."

Caitlyn blinked, before laughing. "I know you, you wouldn't start it until the day it's due, sitting and frantically writing before class. Don't try to fool me!" she exclaimed, and he stared at her. Technically, she was right usually, but he had done it this time…

"Anyway, I don't really want you here right now, I was up all night and I'm still exhausted, I can't handle you right now…" he said, trying to convince her to leave.

She grinned up at him, her expression mischievous. "You don't usually try to force me out...Are you hiding something, I wonder…?"

Andrew spluttered. "O-Of course not! Even I have a limit to how many times I let someone break in-" He flinched as he heard a clattering sound from behind him, and he glanced back, sighing at the sight.

Granberia stood awkwardly, half bent over above the computer chair, which lay collapsed on its side on the ground.

"I hear sounds!" Caitlyn exclaimed, and before he could stop her, she appeared beside her, and he cringed, slowly turning his head to see her reaction.

The girl was frozen in place, her eyes wide open as she stared at the dragon. "Hey...I'm not seeing things, am I…?" she asked quietly, her voice low as the cogs in her brain were visible in her effort to understand the situation. "Andrew, did you…"

The man's palm hit his face. "That...didn't last very long…" he said, sighing. "Well, whatever. Caitlyn, meet Granberia. She's...a dragon."

The swordswoman stood up straight, crossing her arms as she sighed. "I was hoping to meet you after I'd settled down here, but I suppose waiting until then wasn't an option, was it?"

"..." Caitlyn took several moments to react, before her face split in a grin again, and she jumped in the air, her whole demeanor visibly shifting back to one of excitement. "That's so cool!" she exclaimed, and in the blink of the eye, she had pulled her phone out and snapped a picture of the startled monster. "I thought there was something funny going on when there was no news on that meteor I saw, now it makes sense! But why choose Andrew to be around, he's like the worst one of us if you wanted anything interesting here!"


	8. Caitlyn's Gift

Andrew sat next to Granberia on the couch as Caitlyn stood, the cords tying the short girl's dojo outfit trailing on the ground behind her as she stood facing them, a grin splitting her face as she stared at the uncomfortable dragon. "I saw something I thought was a meteor last night, but I guess it was just you, wasn't it? Are you an alien? Are there others of you? Do you probe people?"

Granberia was clearly confused as Andrew sighed, his hand on his forehead in exasperation. Caitlyn's tiny body held the power of a national champion of kickboxing, and her kicks were known to bend steel plates, but she certainly was not just her legs...He knew her best not as the 'Tiny Terror of the Eastern Seaboard', as she was called in news articles, but as simply his loli neighbor...and he knew her obsession with aliens left much to be desired. It made sense that she'd misconstrue Granberia's identity, since the girl mostly ignored mythology and didn't care much about monsters...but really? Did she think the warrior was some sort of classic Little Green Man?

The monster seemed to share his concerns as she raised a hand to stop the girl's chattering. "I don't know what you think I am, but I have no desire to study your race. Humans are well-understood in my world, there is little need to learn more. I am more interested in the societal aspects of this world than the biology of those in it."

Andrew sighed at her wording. Didn't she see that she was only confirming the mistaken belief Caitlyn had-

He blinked. Actually, calling Granberia an alien wasn't far off. She WAS from another world after all, and that was really the only definition needed for 'alien'. If anything, it would probably be easier to call her that than a monster, which would need much more explaining…

"How are you going to learn about society if you're stuck with the most boring person in the complex?!" Caitlyn asked. "Come with me, I'm sure you'll have more fun with me than with boring Andrew!"

"Why must you insult me like this?" Andrew asked, but he felt an odd sense of relief as Granberia shook her head.

"I would rather not. A sedentary lifestyle can be just as informative as an adventurous one." she replied. "I will have to politely reject the offer."

Caitlyn frowned, while Andrew looked at her with a smug expression. "I can tell you're a warrior with how you dress. I'm one too, see?!" She kicked upwards, jumping as she did so to easily perform a midair backflip, landing on her feet with a thud louder than her small frame seemed to allow. "That's super simple for me to do!"

Granberia blinked. "That's...quite impressive for someone of your size." she said, before shaking her head. "But I still cannot accept. Your personality reminds me too much of someone who often pisses me off where I'm from. I can almost imagine that you're hiding a kitsune form under that outfit."

Caitlyn giggled as she swished the robes she wore...her dojo outfit, something she was always wearing, at least, whenever Andrew saw her. "A kitsune? How many tails do I get? I hope it's two, I like nibis best!"

The dragon shook her head. "You would be a kyuubi, you're quite similar to a particular annoyance I know...and your evident power compared to Andrew seems to back that up."

Caitlyn frowned. "Oh, that's boring, nine-tailed ones are so overused…" she said, before blinking. "Anyway...Are you here to invade then, if you're not here to study us? You look like a fighter…"

Granberia blinked. "Are you...trying to find a reason to fear me?" she asked, confused, and Andrew shook his head.

"She's just obsessed with aliens, bear with her. Caitlyn, she's not after any of that, she came here by accident."

Granberia nodded, lifting her shoulder pad with two fingers. "And this armor is useless to me now, it seems that the process by which I got here ruined the durability. I will need clothing soon…" She shook her head as she looked at Andrew. "Naturally, I need something that won't rip if I want to take it off."

Andrew shrugged. "I don't have anything in your size, I can't help with that…" he said, before Caitlyn shouted excitedly.

"I do! You can borrow one of my dojo robes! I've got plenty of them!" she said, and before Granberia could respond, she reached her hands to her waist to untie the cords of the one she wore.

Andrew quickly looked away. "What are you doing?" he asked, and as Caitlyn laughed, and Granberia chuckled, he glanced at her.

She was holding the outfit in one hand, and underneath...she was wearing another one. He sighed in relief, deciding not to question her choice to wear two layers of the same thing...He really didn't want to ask about it or she might decide not to, which would be worse.

The girl handed the robes to Granberia, who stood up to take them, staring at the in her hand before slipping them on, the very loose fabric easily slipping over both her armor and the spines jutting from her elbows.

She hummed to herself as she went to tie the cords, nodding. The robes were very short on her legs thanks to her being almost a foot taller than the girl, but at least it fit somewhat naturally, and it certainly did a better job of covering her than the armor did.

"I will have to remove my armor later." Granberia mused to herself. "But this is...oddly comfortable. I can move easily in this."

Caitlyn grinned. "That's how dojo outfits work, of course they're easy to move in!" She jumped in the air again as she stared at the woman.

Granberia laughed, holding her arms to her hips as she looked at the girl. "You are an odd child, aren't you?" she asked.

Caitlyn blinked, and her cheeks puffed out in annoyance. "Hey, I'm an adult! Just because I'm not old enough to drink yet doesn't make me a child!"

"...You are a champion and yet you're still too young to drink? Impressive, for a human."


	9. Broken Peace

**I'm back, everyone! Sorry for the long wait, I was busy with other series! Mass updates tend to mean more minor stuff gets shoved aside, I apologize! Figured this would be a good time to get back to it, with July 4th coming up and Andrew being my most patriotic character!**

* * *

It didn't take much to make Caitlyn swear to secrecy, and after going over the pros and cons with Granberia, they decided to show her the news reports that they'd discovered, still logged into Granberia's account, where she had been apparently doing research on the world map on another tab...along with an odd map that he didn't recognize, containing only three continents. Why she was looking at that, he didn't know. Perhaps she'd simply found an interesting landform somewhere.

"So, guess that means you can't really leave here, can you?" the kickboxer asked, crossing her arms and nodding. "Even though you haven't actually done anything wrong."

Granberia nodded, shifting as she paced around the room, getting used to the feel of the dojo uniform, having now removed the armor underneath. Now, she at least looked somewhat normal, her tail hidden by the uniform's back end and her body mostly covered once she'd figured out how to tie the cord keeping the two sides together. Funny enough, it had the added bonus of leaving less skin exposed than before...Andrew was relieved to no longer need to worry about whether she was actually wearing anything under her armor...Hopefully she had some sort of underwear on under that.

"It's for the best, I think." the dragon said. "As monsters are already causing havoc here, I shouldn't risk being the center of any issues...and any problems relating to me will come back to Andrew as well, as my current host."

Andrew laughed. "Thanks for caring about my wellbeing too." he said. "Even if it's just as an afterthought…"

He sighed, walking over to his computer, logging Granberia out so he could get on to his essay again. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an essay to do, and I should probably focus on that more than you two…"

Caitlyn's robe shifted as she held her hands on her hips. "Ignoring two pretty girls to do some stupid essay? What kind of man are you?" she asked, and he laughed, not even bothering to look at them as he typed.

"Yes, two pretty girls. If I picked one, I'd be a pedophile. If I picked the other, I'd be a zoophiliac. I can't win, so I'm going to pick maintaining my GPA instead."

"I don't know what either of those terms mean." Granberia said, glancing at Caitlyn, who had to sit down on the couch to keep herself from falling over in her laughter.

"Andrew, you're always like this! Keep up like that and you'll be alone forever! Even I've had more action than you, and I hardly ever have any time!"

Andrew's face went red, but he didn't turn away, determined to finish the accursed essay even if it meant powering through the girl's insults. Tiny Terror indeed, she fit her nickname to a tee in and out of competitions.

"Insulting my relationship status doesn't change the fact that this is due in two days." he said, before jumping out of his seat as he checked the time at the bottom corner of the screen. "Oh, crap! I have to go!"

Caitlyn grinned. "Good luck, Darling!" she called, laughing as he ran into his room, coming out throwing a backpack over his shoulder, holding his car keys in the other hand.

"She's a dragon, not a lamia!" he called as he ran out the door, slamming it behind him and leaving the two alone.

Granberia stared at the closed door, a look of utter confusion written over her face. "Where is he going?" she asked, and Caitlyn laughed.

"College. He finally realized he's 15 minutes late for his first class today." She grinned. "I've only got evening classes on MWF, I'm smart with my scheduling, unlike that guy." She laid herself over the couch, resting her legs on the dragon's lap and laughing. "Guess we're on our own now!"

Granberia blinked, barely reacting to finding her lap covered by the tiny girl's feet. "No, I figured that he was late...I was more concerned that he mentioned lamias. I thought monsters were unknown here. At least, that's the impression I got from him."

Caitlyn shrugged. "They don't really exist, but they're all over mythology and cryptozoology and such. That lamia thing was a reference to something that would take too long to explain to you." She grinned. "You'll probably figure it out in time."

The monster blinked, but nodded anyway, though she hadn't really gotten a satisfying answer. "Is this knowledge of monsters...common?"

Caitlyn laughed, waving her hand as she stared up at the ceiling. "Other than a few exceptions, only by people who know mythology or anime...Dragons are an exception though." She tilted her head to face the taller girl. "Every human on Earth has a mental image of dragons of some form or another...there's actually a theory that they're an evolutionary memory of dinosaurs. It's kind of cool, really. Cameron wrote a paper on it once, but it never got published anywhere." She laughed. "Cameron lives across the hall, but I doubt you'll ever meet him. He's a shut-in who does all his classes online. I've only ever seen him once, and Andrew's actually been inside his apartment maybe twice. He'd like you, if he met you."

She frowned, before sighing. "Hey, don't be too hard on Andrew, okay? We've been friends for a while and we seem close, but really he's just got a thick skin and can tolerate my teasing. He's pretty awkward and has serious motivational issues, and having you around probably only aggravated some deeper-lying problems. He'd probably shrug it off if you mentioned it, but having you here is going to seriously strain the peaceful way of life he wants to lead...So don't be too harsh on him, okay?" She grinned in an effort to neutralize the sudden grim tone of her voice. "Leave the teasing to me!"

Granberia blinked, going quiet as she processed the information, before her own face split in a smile, staring with hardened eyes as the kickboxer. "Sorry, I can't do that. I promised I'd make him someone worth my time, and to do that, I'm going to need to bring him to his breaking point once or twice. I hope you're fine with that."

Caitlyn laughed, swinging her legs off the dragon and standing up, spinning a few times where she stood before clasping her hands behind her back and staring at her companion. "I didn't think you'd listen!" she said, laughing. "You're a lot like me, a stubborn bull who refuses to bend over for other people. Go ahead and trample him over, he's nothing but a timid rabbit!"

She laughed again at Granberia's bewildered expression, before standing straight and looking around. "Now, let's see…" She winked at the monster. "I bet you're curious about his daily life out of home, aren't you?"


	10. On Campus

Andrew sighed as he walked along the main road of campus, simply pacing right now. Evidently the class he'd been late for was cancelled today thanks to the professor bailing for some unknown reason, so he'd had no reason to rush. Now he had almost an hour before his next class, and nothing to do in the interim.

He didn't mind being bored. He preferred the relatively peaceful life he had here, and now that things were even crazier at home than usual, he appreciated the campus all the more. Here, there were no dragonkin and no destructive lolis to bother him.

"Andrew, hi!" called a voice, and he turned around, stopping his pacing as an Arabic man ran up to him. The man was only 20, but he already looked older than Andrew, several inches taller than him and with long brown hair framing his face.

Andrew smiled and turned to face the man. "What's up, Jesus?" he asked, laughing as the man scratched the back of his head.

"Still calling me that? I shaved the beard already, I don't look like him anymore!" he complained. "Call me Youssef, that's my name!" He blinked, before shaking his head. "Anyway, names aside, what's up? You looked like you were in a hurry...didn't realize class was cancelled today?"

Andrew blinked. "Were you following me again?" he asked, and Youssef laughed.

"I just happened to be in the area, I was helping Michael with lesson planning again." he replied.

Youssef was taking the same anatomy class that he was, but the man had an obvious passion for teaching, and he often helped Michael, the professor for the English 101 class he'd had the semester before, with planning out lessons for the day.

"Why did Professor Valenti cancel class anyway? I didn't get an email about it." Andrew said, and Youssef sighed.

"Apparently he had a headache and that was enough for him to decide not to get up. Honestly, that guy is always sick, they really should get him a substitute or something. We've had to cancel so many classes already thanks to him opting out…"

"It's not that bad getting to stay home, isn't it? I know I like it, even with Caitlyn screwing around like usual…"

Youssef laughed, wrapping his arm around the shorter man's shoulder and grinning. "Only you could complain about living right next door to a world champion. Seriously, she's got like 40 or something medals, and you act like she's a little kid!"

Andrew pushed the Arabic man's arm from his back and crossed his arms. "That's because she basically is a child. World champion wall-kicker, pretty much. I bet even now she's just bothering Granberia-" He blinked, groaning as he held his hand to his forehead.

Youssef grinned. "Oh, who is Granberia? Did you finally get a girlfriend or something?"

"No, she isn't my girlfriend!" he replied defensively. "She's just...my cousin. She's visiting from..Romania."

The lie was as clear as glass, but thankfully, Youssef's concept of geography and ethnicity was absolutely terrible, and so he just thought for a few seconds over it, before smiling and backing off. "Okay, okay, no need to get all worked up. It was just a joke!" He tilted his head. "But why would your cousin visit you specifically? Why not your parents?"

Andrew shrugged. "No international airport near Greenwood." he replied. "So she's visiting me first. She probably won't be here long."

Youssef hummed in thought. "Does she know about that global monster attack?" he asked, suddenly changing the subject, and Andrew flinched, though the man didn't seem to be suspecting his homestay.

"Yeah, I heard about it...Why?" he asked, and Youssef laughed.

"There were reports in like 300 cities already, and even more unconfirmed ones! People are calling it the First Wave...you should warn your cousin about it."

"Oh, she knows too...definitely." he replied. "And…'First'? Why first? Are they expecting a second?"

Youssef shrugged. "I don't know if they are, but I think it's because it's like how in video games, monsters come in waves a lot, don't they? That's probably what it's from, it's probably not the same in real life...It's pretty scary though, they're wrecking stuff all over the world. Did you hear there's even some Greek ones like Medusa? It's pretty freaky when you realize stuff like that is actually real…"

"Andrew laughed. "I'll believe it when I see it. Until a dragon literally falls from the sky on top of me, I won't consider it more than a hoax."

"I don't know, I think it would be pretty cool to meet a monster, I'm sure not ALL of them are mindless criminals after all! Imagine having a little fairy pet to guide you, or a friendly slime to eat all your trash!"

"That seems kind of mean, to use a slime as a garbage can. Besides, it would probably attack you, you know how game mechanics are."

"Probably, but hey, if you could tame a monster, it would be a great ally, wouldn't it? You'd never need to worry about burglars, and isn't your dorm known for getting a lot of robberies?"

"I haven't had that issue in my building, and I think most of that's just overreactions. It's the same there as anywhere else. Robbers don't mess with ex-military, and there's a bunch of those guys near where I live."

Plus the fact that even if Granberia went undiscovered forever, there was still Caitlyn living there. Nobody was foolish enough to try to face her in close range.

"You're a real buzzkill sometimes, you know that?"

Andrew grinned. "I try my hardest to be."


End file.
